Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, 2015
  • M.S., Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, 2014
  • B.S., Chemistry, College of William and Mary, 2009
Professional Honors
  • National Science Foundation STEM Fellow in K-12 Education GK-12 Fellow
  • National Science Foundation IGERT FlexEBio Fellow
  • Bouchet Graduate Honor Society Member
Professional Affiliations
  • Materials Research Society (MRS)
  • Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE)
  • American Chemical Society (ACS)
  • Society for Photo Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

With several years of hands-on industry experience, Dr. Longfield enthusiastically applies her materials science knowledge to understand how process and treatment impacts polymer structure and function in finished goods. She has worked on a wide variety of projects in industry and research settings - including manufacturing process development, surface preparation and cleaning efforts, polymeric accelerated aging studies, porous materials synthesis and characterization, novel polymer formulation, chemical and bacteriological water quality monitoring, and lithography failure analysis. Dr. Longfield routinely assists clients in materials-related root cause investigations for a variety of industries, including consumer products, consumer electronics, automotive, medical devices, utilities, and food packaging.

As a trained chemist and materials scientist, Dr. Longfield has extensive experience in characterization techniques including microscopy (optical, SEM, TEM), porosimetry (N2 sorption, Hg intrusion), contact angle measurement (goniometry), elemental analysis (EDS, TOF-SIMS, AAS, Auger), spectroscopy (FT-IR, Raman, UV-Vis), mass spectrometry (GC-MS, ICP-MS), thermal analysis (TGA, DSC), and surface profilometry (interferometric, contact) to investigate various properties of materials and structures. She has experience with a wide array of materials including semiconducting polymers (PEDOT:PSS, resorcinol formaldehyde), porous materials, nanomaterials (carbon nanotubes, hexagonal boron nitride, nanoparticle dispersions), catalytically graphitized carbons, biomaterials, nanohybrid materials, and commercial polymer formulations [elastomers (EPDM, silicone, NBR), thermosetting polymers (epoxy, polyurethane), and thermoplastics (HDPE, Nylon, PTFE, PET, PVDF, PP)]. Additionally, Dr. Longfield is well-versed in various surface preparation methods including wet cleans, plasma treatment, UV-ozone cleaning, and CO2-based particle removal and has industry experience in troubleshooting yield issues resulting from incomplete/faulty surface preparation.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Longfield worked in the semiconductor industry as a process technology development engineer. There, she specialized in wet clean-based surface preparation of optical/EUV photomasks used in high-volume manufacturing. She also worked at Sandia National Laboratories as a staff scientist, where she studied polymer aging behavior over time, and performed formulation work to create novel filled fluorosilicones and foams. She obtained her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Cornell University in 2016, where her graduate research focused on the synthesis and characterization of novel, tunable porous materials prepared using a freeze-casting method.